Today the Australian Federal Police (AFP) advised ANSTO there was no reason to increase its security following the arrest of a 28 year old man linked to terrorism and allegedly involved in the theft of seven rocket launchers.
ANSTO was today made aware of media reports that link the arrested man to alleged threats to its nuclear research reactor and wishes to assure the public that its security measures are solid.
There are a range of security precautions at ANSTO that apply a defence-in depth approach, including checkpoints and barriers, security cameras and an electronic photo pass system. It is staffed by the AFP 24-7, making it a hard target for terrorists.
A December 2005 assessment of the security measures at ANSTO by US security authorities indicated that they were as strong as, or stronger than, those at any civilian research reactor in the world. Since that time, security at ANSTO has been further strengthened.
A range of sabotage scenarios were also assessed during the recent licencing process of ANSTO’s new OPAL reactor. These include the deliberate crash of an aircraft into the reactor building, an event that would cause a much greater impact than firing a missile from a rocket launcher.
When describing the security assessment of OPAL, the CEO of ANSTO’s regulators, ARPANSA2, said: “A heavy commercial aircraft impacting the Reactor Building would cause only superficial damage and it is unlikely that there would be any significant damage to the structure.”
In assessing the impact of any such attack, it should be noted that the reactor pool is surrounded by a reactor block of up to 2.5 metres of heavy density concrete. Beyond that reactor block, the building walls are up to half a metre thick. This is a very robust structure.
The use of a rocket launcher would therefore not pose any serious threat to the reactor.
Published: 05/01/2007